Grow Boys 2020

Grow Boys is a full day leadership conference for Grade 5 boys in Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools and Red Deer Public Schools. This event includes sessions on physical activity, mental health/wellness, trades and technology. Students benefit from learning new skills and are exposed to positive role models throughout the day. This initiative has been allocated $2,000.

Go Girls 2020

Go Girls is a one-day event that promotes health and wellness to all Grade 5 girls in Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools and Red Deer Public Schools. This event focuses on physical activity, healthy eating and mental wellness. Students benefit by gaining new skills and knowledge while building new friendships. This initiative has been given $1,500.

St. Teresa of Avila School – Outdoor Adventure Club

The Outdoor Adventure Club is a group of targeted, at-risk students that participate in a variety of outdoor activities they otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to experience. The Club encourages students to gain an appreciation of God’s creations in a faith-filled, natural setting. This project has been given $1,950.

Testimonial:

St. Teresa of Avila School – Kind Kids Club

The Kind Kids Club is made up of Grade 4-5 students that have expressed an interest in becoming a leader within the school. In response to high demand, the school has developed a Kind Kids Junior Club for Grade 1-3 students. These clubs will meet regularly to discuss and create activities to promote faith, kindness, acceptance and positive mental health in the school community. This initiative has been given $750.

Testimonial:

The funds were used for craft/activity supplies, repurposing of club t-shirts to include mindfulness components of our school goals and supplies to make thank you cards & small gifts for presenters for our school-wide Mindfulness Matters afternoons (giving back to community members allowed students to feel the benefits of giving). Students were excited to come to our meetings each week and were eager to start new projects! Thank you  for providing this opportunity for our students to grow through their faith and kind acts.

St. Teresa of Avila School – Health Champion Retreat & School-wide Activities

Leadership Club students known as Health Champions will grow in their faith at a retreat at Sacred Heart Parish. These students will become school-wide faith-filled leaders that will model, encourage and promote mental/physical/emotional health. The school community will benefit from their leadership and various activities throughout the school year. This project has been allocated $900.

Testimonial:

Staff and student leaders had the opportunity to gather at Sacred Heart Catholic Chruch for the morning and participated in mass, as well as leadership activities. Bridging faith and leadership are essential in our schools as we hope to foster lifelong leaders that truly reflect on how their faith can be integrated into daily life.

The funding provided by the Red Deer Regional Catholic Education Foundation was used for activity supplies, food that students prepared with a dietitian from Alberta Health Services and sub costs for staff leaders. The preparation of food is a key component to our retreat as we focus discussions on thankfulness, prayer and family mealtimes. Students were positively impacted through the sessions by creating purpose-filled time for discussions, engagement and reflection to ensure that they understand their roles as leaders for the school year. Our goal is to create student leaders that enhance the authentically Catholic environment at our school.

 

St. Patrick’s Community School – Faith Retreats

St. Marguerite Bourgeoys Catholic School – Mass Kit

The school community will benefit from its own Mass Kit with legitimate ceremonial Chalices, Ciboriums, Cruets, etc. The school currently hosts 10 masses a year but does not have its own kit, and instead, shares with the local parish. The new mass kit will help students develop a greater understanding and appreciation of mass. This initiative has been given $3,500.

Testimonial:

“Mass is the centre of our communal life as Catholics it is important that when we come together to worship God we use chalices, ciboriums and other artifacts that reflect the sanctity of the Mass. With this gift, we are able to come before our Lord with sacred vessels that show the importance of His sacrifice for us. Our school celebrates many Masses throughout the school year and will be able to use this gift for many years to come. This gift has positively affected our community as well. Our school parish has had to go through a complete renovation to make it safe for the congregation. Without our school’s use of space and Mass kit the people from our parish, many of them seniors, would have had to travel to other parishes in the area or skip Mass until the completion of the church. They, too, have been grateful for this gift.”

St. Marguerite Bourgeoys Catholic School – Faith Retreats

The school will host FacetoFace Ministries and offer students a faith-filled day full of music, worship and praise. This initiative has been allocated $2,000.

Testimonial:

“Our elementary students welcomed PULSE Ministries with an engaging musical performance and faith engagement retreat. In addition, our middle school students experienced NET Ministries, which was a retreat that featured an engaging and intimate look at their relationship with Jesus.”

St. Gregory the Great Catholic School – Pure Witness Ministries

The school community will host Pure Witness Ministries over a two-day retreat. The intent is for students to develop and grow their foundational relationship with God. This initiative has been given $3,200.

St. Elizabeth Seton School – School Faith Retreat

Students in Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 5 will participate in a one-day retreat with FacetoFace Ministries. Students will learn about living and proclaiming their faith. This initiative has been given $1,350.

Testimonial:

Students were able to participate in small group gatherings, live-streamed presentations and also pre-recorded video sessions. All the sessions were highly engaging using music, stories, games, songs with actions and prayerful moments to motivate students of all ages. The School Retreat theme for this year was “Great Things” with a focus on the great things that God has done, the great things He’s continuing to do, and the great things that we can do through Him in our lives. The theme was based on the following scripture: For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. Luke 1:49.